


I Only Have Eyes For You

by sarahstarkiller



Category: Stranger Things (TV 2016)
Genre: Bars and Pubs, Coming Out, Double Date, Hopper ships it, Kissing, M/M, Slow Dancing, kind of
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-02-10
Updated: 2019-02-10
Packaged: 2019-10-25 21:58:33
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,872
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17733416
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sarahstarkiller/pseuds/sarahstarkiller
Summary: Everyone knows it's a double date. Except for Billy.He's not mad.





	I Only Have Eyes For You

He’s acutely aware of how odd it looks from the outside.

 

Him and Steve sitting across from Joyce Byers and the Chief of Police at some rundown pub an hour from Hawkins in bumfuck nowhere. As if Hawkins isn’t nowhere enough.

 

This meeting was supposed to be about  _ security.  _ They’re meant to be discussing government conspiracies and how to keep the Demogorgon situation under control, but instead Hopper lit up a cigarette and offered Billy his own, he keeps reminiscing about high school with Joyce, who’s sliding her glasses of beer over to Billy and this all feels too jovial. Like a date or some shit.

 

It’s not that he doesn’t like them; he practically worships the ground they walk on, though he’d never admit that. And it’s not like he’s hiding, not anymore, but he’s reluctant to let himself become too comfortable. Especially not in a place like this, what with the patrons being straight men of at least forty years old who are already giving him odd looks, as if they all have some sort of radar. Billy just glares back until they turn their attention to their drinks instead.

 

Well, they  _ are  _ outside of Hawkins. No one knows him here. No one knows Neil Hargrove, either.

 

He smiles a little at the thought and, after taking a sip of his (Joyce’s) beer, moves his leg over just so, knocking his knee gently against Steve’s. He watches out of his peripheral vision as Steve fights to keep the smirk off his face, listening politely to Hopper’s story.

 

“All the teachers had sticks up their asses. The principal had a whole tree up his, the asshole,” Hopper jests, chuckling into his glass when Joyce snorts and shoves him.

 

“Yeah, that hasn’t really changed,” Steve smiles, eyeing Billy’s beer. “I think they’re somehow worse now, if that’s possible.”

 

“They’re extraordinarily shitty,” Billy agrees in a breath of smoke when he decides to loosen up a little. He doesn’t often get the chance to. “Just the other day the soccer coach pulled me from underneath the bleachers and dragged me all the way to the principal’s.” Joyce and Hopper laugh and nod, and Billy can only imagine how familiar it all sounds. “Why can’t they just let me enjoy my cigarette in peace?”

 

Hopper grins and looks at Billy like he knows something no one else does. “Sound like anyone you know, Joyce?”

 

Joyce rolls her eyes but it’s playful, friendly, and she nudges Hopper with her shoulder. “Just a little bit.”

 

When Billy realizes they’re implying he’s similar to Hopper, he’s so honored he has to take a long drag from his cigarette for fear of smiling like an idiot.

 

Steve keeps glancing between Hopper and Billy, utterly unable to keep the grin from splitting his face in two. He grabs Billy’s beer and takes a big gulp before wiping his mouth and excusing himself to the bathroom. As he’s shuffling out of his seat, Steve squeezes Billy’s shoulder in a way that could be friendly, if it weren’t for the way he brushes Billy’s neck with his thumb as he goes. Billy catches himself leaning into the touch and his heart stops beating. He flushes because he knows Joyce and Hopper saw and that they’re both too intuitive not to read between the lines. Luckily, they’re also too nice to make a big deal out of it.

 

That’s what Billy  _ thinks, _ until Hopper stubs his cigarette in an ashtray on their little table and says, “Brunettes?”

 

“What?” Billy asks, hoping it’s the beginning of some joke.

 

Joyce gets up to get them more beer and Hopper watches her go. Then he turns back to Billy, leans in a little and says, “Steve and you,” he says easily but still quietly and Billy’s heart is racing. “When did that start?”

 

“I…” Billy squeaks and his eyes are glued to the welcoming look on Hopper’s face. He glances to the bathroom door and considers lying, but, no. He can keep a secret but he can’t outright lie when the truth is already so plain to see. “February.”

 

Hopper hums and finishes off the foamy dregs of his beer. “I gotta say, kid, I’m not surprised.” When Billy doesn’t answer, he continues. “And I have to admit something, too. This was never about, you know,  _ official business  _ or anything. Joyce and I just had a hunch, a theory, and we wanted to test it. I guess we guessed right.” He chuckles and it’s warm but Billy wants to drop dead because it’s not as simple as it sounds.

 

“You can’t-” he feels out of breath suddenly. Steve comes out of the bathroom and catches Joyce at the jukebox. He turns quickly back to Hopper. “Chief. You can’t tell anyone, no one.” He hears how desperate his voice is but he can’t help it.

 

Hopper frowns. “Hargrove, I’m not gonna go around spreading your business.” And, okay, the sincerity in his eyes allows Billy to breathe again. “I just… your secret’s safe with me and Joyce. You’re safe with us.”

 

Billy is overwhelmed and feeling slightly dizzy but before he can cry or pass out, Hopper says, “So, brunettes, huh? Yeah, me too.” He chuckles and Billy’s about to attempt to joke, but Steve and Joyce are back.

 

“What’s so funny?” Joyce asks, tucking her hair behind her ear. She got three beers and she slides one of them over to Billy with a wink. Steve steps on his foot until he lets him have a sip.

 

“Nothing,” Hopper shrugs and then his face lights up at, Billy assumes, the song beginning to play. “You didn’t,” he laughs at Joyce’s sheepish grin.

 

_ Uptown got its hustlers, the bowery got its bums  _ plays in the mostly empty pub.

 

“I did,” she confirms, laughing like a teenager as Hopper tugs her onto her feet and pulls her out to the makeshift dance floor. As soon as they’re gone, Steve snatches up Hopper’s abandoned beer.

 

Billy and Steve watch the pair as they dance drunkenly to countless love songs from the sixties, Steve’s soft humming just loud enough for Billy to hear him. Billy turns to Steve, planning on teasing him on his taste like he always does but the look on Steve’s face destroys all the words he was going to say.

 

He’s watching Joyce and Hopper with heavy eyes, chin in his hand as he uses the other to sip at his beer. And he has the laziest, goofiest smile on his pretty face, but something about it is sad, too. Billy glances at the pair, standing close to one another as they sway unevenly and laugh, and  _ oh.  _ Steve obviously wants to dance with Billy like that, tipsy and warm and close to each other.

 

_ God,  _ Billy wants that, too. He wants to have one night where they can just have fun without worrying about what people will say or do. He considers how dark the place is and the fact that they’re a good distance from Hawkins; no one would flinch. There’s barely anyone here, anyway, and they’d probably mistake Billy for a girl in this lighting.

 

Billy’s still considering his plan of action when the next song plays.

 

_ My love must be a kind of blind love; I can't see anyone but you… _

 

It’s Steve’s favorite song. Billy remembers him blasting it in his empty house one night and belting the words. He’d begged Billy to dance but Billy was way too proud and way too sober, so Steve had danced with himself.

 

So when Steve moves his leg over just enough to brush his knee against Billy’s in a secret, all-knowing  _ I’ve got you  _ touch, Billy throws all caution to the wind. He stands up and smirks at Steve’s bewildered gaze before offering a hand to his boyfriend. A smile blooms across Steve’s face, timid but excited nonetheless and he takes Billy’s hand. He lets Billy lead him to where Joyce and Hopper are still dancing, so absorbed in each other they don’t even notice the teenagers.

 

When Billy faces Steve, he wonders vaguely how this is going to work. He’s never danced with another guy before. But luckily Steve takes the reins and tugs Billy closer so they’re flush against each other. He takes Billy by the hips, making Billy snake his arms around Steve’s neck and then they sway.

 

_ Are the stars out tonight? I don’t know if it’s cloudy or bright… _

 

Billy feels a little ridiculous so he focuses on Steve’s face, so soft and open.

 

“You’re corny,” Steve mumbles as he looks at Billy through pieces of tousled hair.  _ Brunettes indeed. _

 

“You love it,” Billy insists, feeling easier with every moment spent in Steve’s arms.

 

“I don’t mind it,” Steve shrugs and Billy snorts because the boy in front of him is the most romantic sap he’s ever known.

 

_ The moon may be high but I can’t see a thing in the sky… _

 

Billy nods in the direction of Joyce and Hopper where he sees them over Steve’s shoulder. “You know why they actually brought us here?”

 

Steve makes a face. “They said it was about serious shit we couldn’t discuss in Hawkins…”

 

Billy knows him well enough, and he knows from his tone alone that Steve is lying. He’s  _ blushing,  _ too. “You asshole!” Billy whispers and tugs the hair at the nape of Steve’s neck when he laughs. “You knew they knew…”

 

“I knew they knew  _ something,”  _ Steve admits shyly. “When they brought it up I thought it was weird. But I wasn’t gonna pass up on the opportunity to go on a date with my boyfriend.”

 

That word still makes Billy’s legs shake. “A  _ chaperoned  _ date.”

 

“I think of it more as a double date,” Steve grins. He looks over at Joyce and Hopper and when he sees them essentially making out, he looks quickly away.

 

_ I only have eyes for you… _

 

Billy tucks his face into Steve’s neck, breathes him in. His scent makes him dizzy with longing, desire, love.

 

_ I don’t know if we’re in a garden or on a crowded avenue… _

 

Steve’s lips graze Billy’s neck, the touch featherlight and stupefying. Billy leans in closer, as close as he can get to Steve. He totally forgets his surroundings as all his focus is on Steve and the song playing.

 

_ You are here and so am I, maybe millions of people go by… _

 

Billy raises his head from Steve’s shoulder and looks at him. His big brown eyes and moussed hair, unruly pieces tickling Billy’s face as he leans in closer so they share the same breath. He smiles at Steve because words are unnecessary and lets his gaze linger on his stupidly pretty lips.

 

_ But they all disappear from view… _

 

Billy’s heart is pounding and his ears are ringing.  _ ‘You’re safe with us,’ _ Hopper had said and Billy trusts him on that and all things. His fingers tighten in the ends of Steve’s hair as he lets Steve press their mouths together, warm and sweet and steadying. So fuck what anyone else thinks because Steve is kissing Billy like it’s all he knows how to do.

 

_ And I only have eyes for you… _

  
  



End file.
